Is Meta Platforms (META) the Best Tech Stock to Buy For Long-Term Investment?

Yahoo

14-04-2025

We recently published a list of 12 Best Tech Stocks to Buy For Long-Term Investment. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other tech stocks to buy for long-term investment.
On April 1, Chris Verrone, chief market strategist at Strategas Research Partners, appeared on CNBC's 'Closing Bell' to talk about his outlook on the tech sector. Verrone believes that most of the current market's negative sentiment has already been factored into recent stock prices. He highlighted that even after the market's decline, the VIX, and the currency and bond volatility are lower than they were during the mid-March stress period. Plus, fewer stocks are hitting new lows. He thinks that market lows are formed during periods of bad news, and the market will rally from its current level with an anticipated range of 5,900 to 5,950.
Verrone believes that the current downturn is more than a typical 10% correction so it will take some time to figure out the market's true direction. He emphasized the importance of monitoring market breadth, new highs, and credit conditions in the upcoming weeks and months. He also acknowledged the shift in investor sentiment, with more bears than bulls. As the conversation touched on the impact of the Fed and politics in a market, Verrone stated that he pays more attention to what the 2-year Treasury yield tells him instead of listening to what Fed officials have to say. He noted that the 2-year yield's decline from 3.83% to 3.85% suggests a shift in the market expectations for the Fed's actions. He highlighted the resilience of financials during the correction and contrasted it with the weakness of tech. He thinks that, unlike financials that entered the correction as leaders, the tech sector might not be able to regain the leadership role.
While Verrone's stance acknowledges the current weakness in tech, it's important to note that the tech sector remains one of the more innovative markets in the long run. For instance, MAG7 continues to be a driving force for this market.
We first sifted through financial media reports to compile a list of the top tech stocks that are being touted as long term investment plays. We then selected the 12 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. The hedge fund data was sourced from Insider Monkey's database which tracks the moves of over 900 elite money managers.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A team of developers working in unison to create the company's messaging application.
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 262
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) develops products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family. It operates through two segments: Family of Apps (FoA), which includes Facebook and Instagram among other apps; and Reality Labs (RL) which provides virtual, augmented, and mixed reality-related products through consumer hardware and software.
In Q4 2024, the company's FoA generated $47.3 billion in revenue which was up 21% year-over-year due to advertising. Advertising alone made $46.8 billion and increased by 21% year-over-year. Over 3.3 billion people use at least one of the company's apps daily. The online commerce vertical majorly contributed to the year-over-year ad revenue growth. The company is integrating its AI assistant called Meta AI across FoA, which now reaches more than 700 million monthly active users.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) also uses AI to enhance ad ranking and targeting through Advantage+ to improve monetization efficiency. The company's investments in these areas are expected to contribute to continued revenue growth in 2025 and beyond. On March 28, Evercore ISI maintained a Buy rating on Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
Nightview Capital highlighted the company's strong growth potential, due to its AI leadership with Llama model, advertising ecosystem, and AR capabilities. It stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
'Core Opportunity: Meta Platforms, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) platforms—Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger—reach nearly half the world's population daily, making it one of the most powerful advertising ecosystems globally. With investments in AI and augmented reality (AR), we believe Meta is also creating significant optionality for long-term growth.
Overall, META ranks 3rd on our list of the best tech stocks to buy for long-term investment. While we acknowledge the growth potential of META, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.